The American Ornithologists' Union does indeed have an 'official'
system of capitalization of common names of bird species, as listed
formally in the AOU Check-list (http://www.aou.org/checklist/
index.php3); the same systemn is used by the British Ornithologists'
Union for species in their part of the world.
This system is used not just in field guides but also by most
ornithological journals: Auk, Condor, Wilson Bulletin, Journal of
Field Ornithology, Ibis, etc. (though not Journal of Avian Biology).
The system calls for capitalization of each word in the common name
when referring to a single species. If the terminal part of the name
(which often refers to a larger group of species to which the species
in question belongs) is a hyphenated compound word, both component
words get capitalized (this is the AOU system; in the BOU check-list,
only the first word of the compound word is capitalized). If the name
includes a hyphenated compound word that precedes the terminal part
of the name, only the first word of that compound word gets capitalized.
Thus ...
Mallard, Canada Goose, Northern Cardinal
Black-capped Chickadee, Chestnut-sided Warbler
Island Scrub-Jay (The scrub-jay group, as currently recognized,
includes three species, Island, Western, and Florida. These form a
closely related subset (clade) within a larger genus, Aphelocoma.)
Both rules for compound words can apply to a single species:
Black-crowned Night-Heron, White-faced Storm-Petrel
A few species have names that include more than two words. All get
capitalized.
Great Blue Heron, Great Horned Owl
When referring to multiple species in the same group, the group name
does not get capitalized. Thus ...
Black-capped and Carolina chickadees, Florida and Western scrub-jays
Hope this is helpful in clarifying the system that ornithologists
have adopted widely.
~ ~ ~ ~
Robert L. Curry, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
Villanova University
800 Lancaster Ave.
Villanova PA 19085 USA
Tel 610-519-6455
Fax 610-519-7863
http://oikos.villanova.edu/RLC/
Webmaster for...
BIRDNET, web site of the Ornithological Council
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/
Delaware Valley Chapter, Society for Conservation Biology
http://oikos.villanova.edu/SCB/
"My attention attention was first thoroughly aroused, by comparing
together ... the mocking-thrushes"
-- C. Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle, 1839
